The horrors of salt!

So, yesterday, I had to drive a bit to get to an interview regarding an engineering internship and since it is motorsport related, I figured that it would have a bit more credibility if I drove there on my motorcycle rather than in my mothers Mitsubishi Colt 1,4L.

The trip was supposed to be 2x86 km, but I got lost on the way home and took a 60 km detour.

I knew that there would be some salt and I had to remove salt from my visor a couple of times but I was still pretty horrified when I came come and saw at least 5 millimeters of salt on the exhaust and on the front of the engine.

I washed as much as I could reach of the bike without taking the fairing off. I used cold water as I have heard that hot water would make the oxidation go faster. I changed the water 4 times before the water before the brushes didn't make the water black anymore but here is a picture of after the first water change. Most of the easily accessible salt had been rinsed off but the salt and dirt on the engine block was still pretty much there.

However, it is certainly no good for your bike. You did the correct thing in washing it straight off with cold water.

You should fit a 'fenda extenda' - a bit of plastic that makes the front mudguard longer, some people make then longer still by adding there own extra bit of plastic to the bottom. This will reduce the amount of salt (and other crap) that gets plastered on your downpipes and front of the engine. it is a good idea to fit one even if you are not planning to go out in winter.

You will have to make your own decision about going out or not on your bike in the winter - if you want your bike to be 'absolutely perfect' then I would suggest that you don't take it out in the winter. Most of us make some kind of compromise and try and use a combination ACF50, grease and paint to cover up the most exposed parts and continue through the winter.

Of course, winter here in Great Britain may be a bit more mild than in Denmark, which may influence your decision

Call me a noob but I was never even aware of this salt problem. We are just starting to get our winter weather here in Ireland so I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for any salt build up. I'd imagine it could do a lot of damage to down pipes/engine if left unchecked.

I'd also rather have salt than ice as I'm very keen on not dying but on the other hand, I would really hate if the bike got rust everywhere immediately after I got it as it was aesthetically very nice when I got it.

I'll think of that fender extender, but so far, my plan is pretty much to just not drive any more before spring as I'm uninsured during the winter months and I'm pretty sure that the roads will get worse from now and until december. As this bike is much bigger than my last one and it is still pretty new to me, I'm not comfortable riding very much when the roads might be slippery.

The fairings are some aftermarket ones that the first owner put on it some time between 1997 and 2013 but the model is a 1996 (or 1997) CB500(T?) which does not originally have these fairings.

@Baddi wrote:I'd also rather have salt than ice as I'm very keen on not dying but on the other hand, I would really hate if the bike got rust everywhere immediately after I got it as it was aesthetically very nice when I got it. :D

I'll think of that fender extender, but so far, my plan is pretty much to just not drive any more before spring as I'm uninsured during the winter months and I'm pretty sure that the roads will get worse from now and until december. As this bike is much bigger than my last one and it is still pretty new to me, I'm not comfortable riding very much when the roads might be slippery.

The fairings are some aftermarket ones that the first owner put on it some time between 1997 and 2013 but the model is a 1996 (or 1997) CB500(T?) which does not originally have these fairings.

I'm pretty sure this is what our other Danish member does - he only has 6 month insurance too. There's no point in riding if you are not comfortable.

I think powerbronze still make fairings for the CB500, it could be one of them.

Wow that is some serious looking salt - caked on to quite a depth. Prevention not cure - that's probably the way to go, were you to use the bike more at this time of year. Suss out which HT paints will stay on, and paint the whole system some time in September. Because no matter how much ACF50 or wax oil you use it's obviously going to burn off those header pipes.

I definitely agree with hosing it off if possible, and then - if you can be arsed - I'd towel it dry if I could get to it, and then spray with some GT85 or similar. I actually have a hand spraying bottle full of two thirds paraffin and one third used engine oil. It serves the same purpose as e.g. GT85 but is of course much, much cheaper. Oh and keep an eye on the swing arm too, not to mention the rear shockers. Hose, towel dry, spray.

But this level of care is basically unsustainable if you're using the bike every day. You can't come home from work then start faffing around with all that crap. In the dark. In the cold. When you're knackered and hungry. It's far too much of a PITA.

As an aside, I love the fact that these isles are always criticised for our weather BUT we are only rarely snowed in in winter or - like in the US and Australia where summer riding is nearly impossible if you want to avoid ending up as vulture food (pre-cooked in the searing heat) - so we have the longest riding season of anywhere I can think of. You may know better of course.

@Beresford wrote:As an aside, I love the fact that these isles are always criticised for our weather BUT we are only rarely snowed in in winter or - like in the US and Australia where summer riding is nearly impossible if you want to avoid ending up as vulture food (pre-cooked in the searing heat) - so we have the longest riding season of anywhere I can think of. You may know better of course.

Yeah, but complaining about the weather is also a national pass time :) Where I live (near Cambridge/east anglia) it doesn't rain much compared to the west of the country and in mild winters there are only really a few weeks worth of hard frost, so it's great for biking - unfortunately the best/mpst interesting roads are not in this area!

Also worth noting, there was a weatherproofing topic on here recently and the consensus was that ACF50 is better than scottoiler 365 and I would agree that it is a more permanent solution. The Scottoiler stuff is good for this kind of thing though. Rinse all the crap off with fresh cold water and then give it a spray and it helps to neutralise all that salty nastiness. Only takes 5 minutes after coming back from a grimy winter ride.

Just for the record. My bike is 19 years old, I have owned for 16 of those. It does winter commuting of 2 or 3 miles a day in salty conditions. Unfortunately, for just 14 months I lived in a rural location where more mud than anything was being continually left by tractors.Now I don't know chemically what is in the mud, I imagine a mixture of salt, grit and all the compounds found in soil.

This totally ate through my exhaust collars at the front. I am now on my first new front exhausts the bike has needed.I can't help thinking it was this salt mud mixture that did it. Obviously if I had the time to wash it daily (which I didn't) I could have mitigated it somewhat.